Ian Dunt

1 month ago | inews.co.uk | Ian Dunt

There’s something deeply humiliating about this moment. Sometimes you wonder how much we can possibly take. It’s not clear how long Britain can tolerate being bullied, dismissed and belittled before we stand up for ourselves. International trade is not a place of high emotion. It’s supposed to be the site of cool, rational, calculated self-interest. But politics is a place of high emotion. Emotions matter. They define the way that governments are seen and whether they succeed.

1 month ago | iandunt.substack.com | Ian Dunt

The truth of the Marine Le Pen story is simple. She fucked around. She got found out. What did she actually do? You'd be hard pushed to find out, given that very few news outlets seem motivated to tell you. If you're really lucky, you'll get a brief mention of the court statements around paragraph 12, once all the populists got to have their say about how French democracy is being trampled over. So I'll tell you here, and I'll put it up top, above the digital fold, where it should be.

1 month ago | inews.co.uk | Ian Dunt

If you listen to her critics, Rachel Reeves is obviously some kind of demon. She delights in robbing disabled people of their dignity. She’s damaged the economy due to her cynical political point scoring. She’s prepared to return us to austerity in order to preserve a discredited fiscal rule. The reality is entirely different. Reeves is following a cautious approach to the predicament she’s in. Most of her actions are the result of perfectly sensible decisions.

2 months ago | inews.co.uk | Ian Dunt

Reform UK functions in precisely the same way as the Brexit Party functioned before it, and Ukip before that: a decaying circus of tiny male egos battling for dominance. If, by some ludicrous stroke of stupidity and bad luck, they ever ended up in government, the country would grind to a halt within the week. After months of being told Reform was on the brink of power – always a laughable proposition – they’re now falling apart for all to see.

2 months ago | iandunt.substack.com | Ian Dunt

I sometimes like to fool myself that the worst has passed. It's reassuring, in a period where there's precious little reassurance to be found. I tell myself that we'll look back on these last few weeks, in the dead of winter, in the dark and the cold and the abject bloody horror, and wonder how we managed to keep hope alive before things improved. This week, for the first time, it was possible to feel a sense of optimism while still being at least vaguely rational.